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❶In January , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average job tenure was 4. Most of us will go through at least one career change.

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Put some effort into writing a compelling cover letter. These connections are not always obvious. A common mistake career changers make is to use the same resumes that worked in their previous careers.

Re-phrase and re-organize your skills to properly highlight your qualifications for this new path. Pay careful attention to job descriptions and use the key words and lingo in your resume.

This one is best for career changers with transferable skills from their professional past. The summary highlights your most relevant qualifications to easily point them out to the hiring manager. Remember those short attention spans. Within your chronological work history, you should focus on the skills, tasks and accomplishments most relevant to your new career.

Lead your resume with a career goal and qualifications summary, and then create categories that highlight your related skills and experience. Your work chronology is listed at the end of the resume, with no job description for unrelated positions. The narrative format allows you to control the information you provide.

Keep your letter focused on how your passion for your new career, combined with your transferable skills and experience, would benefit your potential employer. This format works well for networking scenarios in which you are referred by a mutual contact who vouches for you.

Whatever format you choose, your new resume or resumes should be comprehensive, but not overwhelming. Zero in on those skills that would be most interesting to the person looking to fill the position. Your time at a PR firm may be impressive, but not so much to a hiring manager looking for a tech assistant. This is where transferable skills come in.

Each job teaches us something, and those things can be widely used elsewhere. For instance, your time management skills or knowledge of certain computer programs would be useful in most any position.

Your job here is to demonstrate the ease with which you will move into this new career. Stay focused on relevance as opposed to volume. This is particularly important if you are a relatively experienced candidate who is willing to take on a more junior role in exchange for the opportunity to switch fields.

Play down your overall years of experience and emphasize your commitment to the career change and your willingness and ability to roll up your sleeves and do the work needed. Or it might had been, had that been my first interaction with the team. There are hundreds of stories here in our success stories section and elsewhere that show it is. What have you learnt? What actions are you going to take? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Ready to get unstuck and into action?

Click here to find out more. Richard Alderson is the founder of Careershifters. Disillusioned with corporate life, Richard quit his consulting job in search of something more meaningful. View the discussion thread. It was one of the most difficult periods of my life.

These are the lessons I learnt along the way. Does this also hold true for you? Neither of us came up with answers. But still no clarity. But it all just left me cold. It was more of the same. Do it with others, not alone "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. I was comfortably uncomfortable. I only really started to make progress when I deliberately put others around me. Think of your career change as an expedition, not a day-trip. For most of that time, I was trapped in analysis paralysis.

Notice what I was doing, though. In short, action precedes clarity, not the other way round. Look for people, not for jobs "Opportunities do not float like clouds in the sky. Focus instead on connecting with people. What your next steps should be "To know and not to do is not yet to know. But it is possible.

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In your career change resume, you have to tell the story of your transferable skills to hiring managers, explaining how qualifications from your previous career are still applicable and relevant. (Here are tips on how to have a successful career transition overall.) Whether it's because of a shift in the industry or a shift in your interests, there are lots of reasons to .

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In career change resumes and cover letters, this means personalizing your documents for each position. If you want a job that is entirely different from your past roles, it can be tricky to convince potential hiring managers that you are a good fit for the job.

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Your work chronology is a simple listing at the end of the resume (include company name, city, state, job title and dates), with no job description for unrelated positions. Resume Letter. Another strategy for career changers with minimal related experience is a resume letter, which is a cover letter that substitutes for a resume. The sample resume shown below is a targeted resume for a flight attendant who is seeking a career change in the sales/account management field. By carefully targeting resumes for specific jobs and situations, you can greatly improve your chances of getting noticed in the job market.

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Tip 2. Prepare for resume rewrites. A common mistake career changers make is to use the same resumes that worked in their previous careers. It’s always smart to customize your resume for each new position to which you apply, reworking to highlight the skills and past experience most relevant for each job. Career Change Resume Services. For Professionals Who Are Transitioning To A Completely New Industry Or Career Field. Our Career Change Resume Service is designed to help professionals of all stripes make this transition. Order Now! Career Change Resume Written — $